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Nice run…

paul_ikeloa — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 05:25:09 +0000

It was a nice run tonight. Almost 4 miles and I feel great. The air was cool but not cold, no rain and generally very pleasant.

We had a good turnout from the team tonight as well — it is great to see everyone working so hard!

Go Team!

Blog updating…

paul_ikeloa — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:26:58 +0000

So I switched over from using Google’s Blogger to WordPress. I am impressed with the flexibility and how easy it was to get going.

Bike versus Spin

paul_ikeloa — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:13:18 +0000

Yesterday I did both a bike ride and a spin. They have different goals and impact and the training profiles are vastly different.

On a normal ride, the speed (blue line), elevation, and heart-rate (red line) vary greatly, while during spin, we focus on cadence and strength using interval training. I enjoy the rides more than spin, but the constantly changing elevation in really skews my heart-rate.

Go Team!

Bike, spin and swim…

paul_ikeloa — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 07:53:47 +0000

Feeling the need to get some mileage in on the bike, I went for a ride with a co-worker during lunch. We rode from the office, down to the coast and back, just about 15 miles in the 60 minutes we were out. A good place to build the endurance.

I felt pretty good after the ride, though I did drag a little for the rest of the day at work. I made it down to La Jolla High School to go to the swim session and decided to do Spin with the team before the swim.

It was a good spin with Coach Keith and it really worked me hard. This was the first spin class I have been to in more than 18 months! The joys of high-cadence drills and ILTs (individual leg torture) rapidly flashed back into my head. Forty-five minutes of spin was tough!

A pleasant surprise was seeing one of my old coaches, Gurujan show up for the spin and swim. He is coaching the Lavaman team this season.

I ended up wimping out and not getting into the pool. I was tired and cold so I took a few pictures of the team and then went home after everyone started the swim drills.

I was wiped out by the time I got home. I guess the nearly 2 hours on the bike took a greater toll than I expected. I have a long way to go to get up to the level I need to be at for Vineman.

My appreciation for what Alfred (and others fighting cancer) has to face was only further re-enforced. The struggle they face is so overwhelming! I had the option of skipping swim because I was too tired, Alfred doesn’t have the option of skipping Chemo or seeing the doctor…

Go Team!

Polar swim… or at least it felt like it!

paul_ikeloa — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 06:13:53 +0000

Brrr! It was really cold tonight. Or at least cold for San Diego. A cold front blew through over the weekend and today it was 52° tonight and the winds were blowing like crazy. Not as many showed up for practice tonight as expected, but then again, it was a bit cold.

The water was warmer than the air so it wasn’t terrible as long as you stayed in the pool. We listened patiently to Coach Robbie as he covered the drills for practice while Natalie demonstrated how to do them correctly.

Instead of the drills, I focused on re-building my base and slugged out 650 yards before I got too cold and tired.

While we all complained about being miserable, I couldn’t help but reflect on what our honored teammates are going through.

The full moon was very nice tonight though I didn’t do very well in taking a picture…

Go Team!

Squeezing in a bike…

paul_ikeloa — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:44:42 +0000

It has been fairly stormy this weekend but the gamble to move the bike to Sunday afternoon seems to have paid off. It turned out to be a fairly nice day, though a bit windy and slightly chilly (for San Diego).

There are three tri teams this season and even though I am training for the Vineman 70.3, as a mentors we have to help out with all three groups. Today four separate rides were scheduled — depending on the your team and level. For this month I am hanging out with the Olympic distance Wildflower team on the bike sessions as the coaches need at least two mentors on these rides and the Vineman season is long so I can catch the distance later.

The olympic team was doing some short loops to practice passing and changing gear. We were supposed to do five loops, but I ended up doing six. Total mileage was only 11.05 miles, however, so that means that I am short at least 10 miles from what the Vineman team was doing today. I am going to have to make it up somewhere — maybe at spin class on Wednesday.

Coach Sam took a little break while we went over all the information we have to cover at the start of each session.

We did get lucky with the weather today as the rains started to come back and it will be a very wet day tomorrow. That is ok because we are in the pool and are already wet, so as long as there isn’t any lightening, then we will proceed with the workout. At little more water won’t really make a big deal.

Go Team!

And the rain came…

paul_ikeloa — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 04:16:49 +0000

The bike workout was rescheduled to tomorrow due to the heavy rains. So today was spent relaxing and doing chores and trying to eat healthy.

Run… Like the fishes!

paul_ikeloa — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 05:35:49 +0000

So it was a bit wet tonight. San Diego doesn’t really get much rain, but tonight it came down in torrents for awhile. This made the drive the meeting place for tonight’s run training a bit frustrating.

So what looked to be a dismal run actually turned out to be really good! During the initial Coach’s talk it was cold and sprinkling, but by the time we got going on the run, the rain had stopped for the most part. It was pleasant with the cool breeze and I was glad that I braved all the nutty San Diego drivers to get to the run.

About 2 miles into the run, it started to sprinkle, but nothing major and by the time I got back to the starting point, the moon was even poking through the clouds.

In all I ran 3.87 miles an averaged an 11 minute pace, which was just right for me to build my base. A good run indeed!

Go Team!

Like a fish…

paul_ikeloa — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 07:34:24 +0000

Tonight was the second coached swim practice. TNT swim caps were handed out and we put our names on them to help with learning names. Coach Robbie and Coach Sam demonstrated the proper use of the marker. The team is settling into the training routine and coach Robbie came up with a various drills depending on your current level.
It was a good practice but the air was slightly chilly and the water just didn’t feel as warm as it should. I also reached the sad realization of how much more I need to focus on the swim and improve my form and efficiency. I need to really get my base up as I was tired after just 600 yards (24 lengths) of swimming. I need to add another 1500 yards to be at race distance. Fortunately I have a lot of time to reach that level.

Go Team!

Casual ride

paul_ikeloa — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:44:24 +0000

As it was such a fantastic day today (days like these are why I love San Diego), I took a break from work and went for a casual ride during lunch — just over 16 miles There is a coached swim practice tonight so I didn’t want to kill myself and it was good to loosen up a bit on the bike. Plus this was the first chance I had to get on my bike since it was serviced and it was good to see how well everything is working.

When I train on the bike and run, I use a Garmin Forerunner 305. This wonderful GPS “personal trainer” keeps track of all the critical data while training. My heart rate is monitored, GPS for speed and distance, and I have a cadence sensor to track how I my form is on the bike. I have been using it for nearly 2 years and I have come depend on data to help me focus on specific aspects of my physical fitness — ok, so it doesn’t measure my weight!

The device is cool enough but what makes it even better is that you can upload the data in Garmin Training Center and get a more complete view of your performance. This is a snapshot of the route I took as well a a graph of some key data points. It is interesting to see how my HR fluctuates with speed and distance.

And later… swim!

Go Team!